Snow claims share of WSFL championship

EPHRAIM — Make that 401 wins in the program's history.

The Snow College Badgers blew out the Scottsdale Artichokes 48-20 — beating them for the second time this season — to remain perfect in conference play.

The last time Snow played Scottsdale the Badgers had to fight back from a 20-10 deficit in the third quarter. This time that wasn't the case as the Badgers led the entire game except early in the second quarter when the score was locked 6-6.

The Badgers then took over with two touchdowns in the second quarter to go up at halftime 20-6.

"Watching film on them we knew we could have big plays," said sophomore wide receiver Mazi Ogbanna. "All the receivers have great speed, and we always play for each other."

Sophomore quarterback Quinn Mecham (Timpview High School) led the way by completing 16 of his 22 passes for 344 yards and threw four touchdowns and also had a rushing touchdown. Sophomore wide receiver Dejay Lester (Layton Christian High School) had seven catches for 154 yards.

"Quinn came in to throw against a good defense," said head coach Steve Coburn. "Quinn played big for us."

The Badgers were taking on the leading quarterback in the conference — second in the nation ?— in passing yards per game in Phillip Aholt. The Badgers gave up 344 yards (47 more than his average) to Aholt on 27 of 43 passes and one touchdown pass.

"We focused on them all week," said defensive back Daniel Dodd. "We knew all along that we could do this."

"Their receivers may be more athletic than us, but we worked harder," said defensive back Brennan Fjord.

The turning point in the game came in the third quarter. The score was 27-13 when Scottsdale was on Snow's 1-yard line faced with a fourth and goal. Scottsdale had a fumbled snap that was recovered by Snow that led to an eventual touchdown for Snow to make it 34-13 with 2:04 left in the third quarter. Scottsdale was never able to recover.

The Badgers also had a hard time snapping the ball has they had seven fumbles in the game, most coming off of bobbled snaps, but only two were recovered by Scottsdale.

"We played what we call a 'circus defense' today because they're moving all the time," Coburn said. "So (Devin) Tavana was trying to read the defense and also snap the ball."

Snow will have a bye week next week and will take these next two weeks to prepare for their final regular season game against Arizona Western on Nov. 14.

"This will give them time off," Coburn said. "Get some legs fresh and heal up a little bit while the coaches will break down film."

EXTRA POINTS: In other junior college action, No. 3 Fort Scott beat No. 4 Butler 14-10 and No. 2 Navarro beat No. 1 Blinn 23-20 today. So Snow has a very good chance of moving up in the polls.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Snowdrift is the student paper of Snow College in Ephraim, Utah.